I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3012 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct outreach to veterans 

regarding the effect of delayed payments of claims for emergency medical 

care furnished by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical providers 

by the Office of Community Care and to direct the Secretary to submit 

to Congress an annual report regarding such delayed payments. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2019 

Mr. ROUZER (for himself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. HUDSON, and 

Mr. FERGUSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct outreach to veterans regarding the effect of delayed payments of claims for emergency medical care furnished 

by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical providers 

by the Office of Community Care and to direct the 

Secretary to submit to Congress an annual report regarding such delayed payments. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans’ Credit Pro3 tection Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. OUTREACH TO VETERANS REGARDING EFFECT OF 

5 CERTAIN DELAYED PAYMENTS BY DEPART6 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS OFFICE OF 

7 COMMUNITY CARE. 

8 (a) OUTREACH.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

9 shall conduct outreach, including through national and 

10 local veterans service organizations, to inform veterans of 

11 how to resolve credit issues caused by delayed payment 

12 of an eligible claim for emergency hospital care, emergency 

13 medical services, or other emergency health care furnished 

14 through a non-Department of Veterans Affairs provider. 

15 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the five-year period 

17 following the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

18 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall annually submit 

19 to Congress a report on the effectiveness of the Of20 fice of Community Care (or successor office) in pro21 viding timely payment of proper invoices for emer22 gency hospital care, emergency medical services, or 

23 other emergency health care furnished through non24 Department of Veterans Affairs providers by the re25 quired payment date. 

26 (2) PERIODS COVERED.— 


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1 (A) The first report submitted under para2 graph (1) shall cover the five-year period pre3 ceding the date of the report, to the greatest 

4 extent practicable. With respect to covering the 

5 part of such period that occurred before Octo6 ber 1, 2015, the report shall evaluate the provi7 sion by the Veterans Integrated Service Net8 works of payments described in such paragraph. 

9 (B) The reports following the first report 

10 shall each cover the period following the date on 

11 which the prior report was submitted. 

12 (3) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The reports under 

13 paragraph (1) shall include, for the period covered 

14 by the report, the following: 

15 (A) The number of veterans who contacted 

16 the Secretary regarding a delayed payment that 

17 negatively affected, or will potentially negatively 

18 affect, the credit of the veteran. 

19 (B) The number of proper invoices sub20 mitted, listed in a table for each quarter and 

21 fiscal year of each such period that includes— 

22 (i) the total amount owed by the Sec23 retary under the proper invoices; 

24 (ii) the payment status of each proper 

25 invoice, as of the date of the report; and 


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1 (iii) the period that elapsed until each 

2 proper invoice was paid, including an ex3 planation of any delayed payment. 

4 (C) Any comments regarding delayed pay5 ments made by medical providers. 

6 (D) A description of the best practices that 

7 the Office of Community Care (or successor of8 fice) can carry out to provide timely payment of 

9 a proper invoice, including a plan to improve 

10 such timely payments. 

11 (E) With respect to pending claims for re12 imbursement for emergency hospital care, emer13 gency medical services, and other emergency 

14 health care furnished through non-Department 

15 of Veterans Affairs providers— 

16 (i) the total number of such pending 

17 claims for each hospital system of the De18 partment, as of the last day of the period 

19 covered by the report; 

20 (ii) the total number of veterans who 

21 submitted such a pending claim in each 

22 State, as of such day; 

23 (iii) the aggregate amount of all such 

24 pending claims in each State, as of such 

25 day; 


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1 (iv) as of such day— 

2 (I) the number of such pending 

3 claims that have been pending for 30 

4 days or longer; 

5 (II) the number of such pending 

6 claims that have been pending for 90 

7 days or longer; and 

8 (III) the number of such pending 

9 claims that have been pending for 365 

10 days or longer; and 

11 (v) for each hospital system, for the 

12 period covered by the report— 

13 (I) the number of claims for re14 imbursement for emergency hospital 

15 care, emergency medical services, and 

16 other emergency health care furnished 

17 through non-Department of Veterans 

18 Affairs providers approved during 

19 such quarter; 

20 (II) the number of such claims 

21 denied during such quarter; and 

22 (III) the number of such claims 

23 denied listed by each denial reason 

24 group. 

25 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

2 the United States shall conduct a study that evalu3 ates the effectiveness of the Office of Community 

4 Care in providing timely payment of a proper invoice 

5 for emergency hospital care, emergency medical serv6 ices, or other emergency health care furnished 

7 through non-Department of Veterans Affairs pro8 viders by the required payment date. 

9 (2) SUBMITTAL.—The Comptroller General 

10 shall submit to Congress a report on the study con11 ducted under paragraph (1), including the total 

12 amount of interest penalties paid by the Secretary of 

13 Veterans Affairs by reason of a delayed payment. 

14 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) The term ‘‘delayed payment’’ means a prop16 er invoice that is not paid by the Secretary of Vet17 erans Affairs until after the required payment date. 

18 (2) The term ‘‘proper invoice’’ has the meaning 

19 given that term in section 3901(a) of title 31, 

20 United States Code. 

21 (3) The term ‘‘required payment date’’ means, 

22 with respect to proper invoices for emergency hos23 pital care, emergency medical services, or other 

24 emergency health care, the date that payment is due 


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1 pursuant to standards determined appropriate by 

2 the Secretary. 

Æ 


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